A garden to grow on

Photo by Sara WrightOkatie Elementary School science teacher Helen Goodman teaches students how to snap green beans on Tuesday as part of filming for a commercial by the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control on healthy schools.

Photo by Sara WrightAnthony Doyle, production manager for the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Health, films Okatie Elementary School students Tuesday with a gian colandar filled with green beans from the school's garden.

Photo by Sara WrightOkatie Elementary School student Madison Scropshire, 11, holds an umbrella for SCDHEC Production Manager Anthony Doyle so his television camera won't get wet during Tuesday's filming of a commercial about Okatie as a winner of the All Health Team grant.

Photo by Sara WrightFirst grader Maria Juriol dumps leftover food into the garbage after lunch Monday at Okatie Elementary School. Okatie recently won a $500 All Health Team grant from the SC Department of Health and Environmental Control, which will fund the purchase five tumbling composters so that leftover fruits, veggies and grains can be turned into fertilizer for the school's garden instead.

Okatie Elementary School PE teacher Jakob Lauffer and Assistant Principal Freddie Lawton recently wrote, and won, a $500 All Health Team grant from the S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control.

“We look for young people who promote health in their school and community,” said Joann Minder, a health communications specialist with S.C. DHEC. Minder traveled Tuesday from Columbia to Okatie with Production Manager Anthony Doyle to film a commercial on healthy school grant winners to air on Columbia’s WIST-TV.

Minder told students gathered to film the commercial that the prize comes with $500.

“Awesome,” said Teyvion Campbell, 9, pumping his fist in the air.

Okatie sports the highly-successful Kids on the Run running club, a newly-paved 1/3-mile fitness track with fitness stations, and a thriving school garden kept by science teacher Helen Goodman and her students.

The grant money will help to buy five tumbling composters for the cafeteria.

“I have one at my house and it does the compost in six weeks,” Lauffer said. “Then the students can see their scraps from the cafeteria turn into compost.”

Before planting this year, students helped Goodman unload a dump truck full of mulch. Now the rich soil is sprouting tomatoes, green beans, squash, cucumber, potatoes and peas.

“All the kids work in the garden,” Goodman said. Those who help the most are members of the Okie Acres Gardening Club, and they get extra veggies to bring home during harvest time. Each year, the cafeteria chefs cook a cornucopia of veggies during harvest so that every student gets “a taste of the garden.”

Having the garden helped Okatie win the grant, Doyle said. Walking and running clubs are growing more common as schools try to outrun escalating rates of obesity, and school health initiatives based on the food pyramid are pretty common, too.

Having a large, productive school garden is a bit more unusual.

To apply for the grant, Lawton said, “We didn’t have to do anything extra.” Okatie is in the running for three other grants all related to healthy schools for a total of $9,000, he said.

“We really want you to be healthy when you’re young, so you don’t have to re-learn when you’re older, like me,” Minder said.

The students are in the game.

“Healthy means being active and getting the fuels you need to have energy to live,” said Jacob Middlebrook, 11, who ran 250 miles last year with the Okatie Kids on the Run club. “If you’re in shape, you’re able to do more.”

Middleton said he’s also a member of the gardening club and the robotics club — which is more of a brain workout, he admitted.

“The mind is powerful,” joked the 9-year-old Campbell. He said that while he enjoys “being able to run and show off,” this whole health kick comes with a cost.

“I don’t like it that they took away ice cream Wednesdays,” he said.

Principal Jamie Pinckney said the school’s 1/3-mile fitness trail was finally paved this winter, and that long-envisioned fitness stations arrived a couple of months later.

Students can now do situps, pushups and dips to add strengthening to their laps. Students can also walk a balance beam.

“There’s everything you should do once in a while,” Lauffer said.

Teacher Amie Sweet founded Kids on the Run in 2007 after winning a Palmetto Electric Bright Ideas grant. She, in turn, was inspired to begin running marathons by fellow teachers Danielle Hunt and Matthew Hunt, who is now an assistant principal at Whale Branch Middle School.

The Parent-Teacher Organization helped raise funds to construct the fitness trail, and other grants such as one from Lowe’s have helped along the way.

“This has been a dream for four or five years now,” said Okatie Principal Jamie Pinckney of the finished circuit.

Each healthy step builds a longer, stronger lifetime for students and their families.

Kids on the Run meets from 3:30 to 4:15 p.m. Wednesdays and from 8 to 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and Friday mornings.

“You can exercise while being with your friends,” said Madison Scropshire, 11.

“Next year we’re going to do it before and after school every day,” Pinckney said.

The 2009 South Carolina Youth Risk Behavior Survey states that 18.5 percent of children ages 10-17 are overweight or obese and 33.3 percent of high school students did not meet the recommended level of physical activity, which is 60 minutes a day five or more days a week. According to the American Medical Association, if this trend continues one in three children will develop Type 2 diabetes, primarily due to a poor diet and lack of physical activity.

Source: S.C. Department of Health and Environmental Control

ENERGY: USE IT OR LOSE IT

Here are some easy ways to get the calorie input/output into a healthy balance.

l Provide plenty of vegetables, fruits and whole grains.

l Include low-fat or non-fat milk or dairy products.

l Choose lean meats, poultry, fish, lentils and beans for protein.

l Serve reasonably-sized portions.

l Encourage your family to drink lots of water.

l Limit sugar-sweetened beverages.

l Limit consumption of sugar and saturated fats

l Make it a habit for children to get at least 60 minutes of vigorous exercise per day and adults at least 30 minutes.

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